


The Pep Talk

by Thunderthighs



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Accidental Love Confessions, BDSM, Clothed Sex, Dirty Talk, Dom/sub, Established Relationship, Exhibitionism, F/M, Halamshiral (Dragon Age), Praise Kink, Quickies, Semi-Public Sex, Smut, Social Anxiety, The Winter Palace (Dragon Age), Vaginal Fingering, that's my emotional support ben hassrath spy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 00:42:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19414918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderthighs/pseuds/Thunderthighs
Summary: Orion Adaar just isn't cut out for this bullshit. Put a sword in her hand and she would bring down whoever or whatever stood in her way, but this game the orlesians made of dueling with words and reputations left her quaking like a coward.Luckily, she's not on her own, and Bull has a few ideas for giving her a confidence boost...





	The Pep Talk

**Author's Note:**

> I'm temporarily unemployed, and I've been playing way too much Dragon age, so this happened.   
> possibly a sequel in the works, stay tuned
> 
> No beta, we die like men

Orion Adaar stood in one of the many shadowed alcoves of the Winter Palace, trying to convince herself that she wasn’t hiding. She was gathering information. By eavesdropping on inane conversations between people who refused to say what they meant, and who’s unspoken meaning constantly escaped her.

Except when they were calling her an oxman.  _ That _ she picked up loud and clear. She could kill Leliana and Josephine for putting her into this position, surely that would be justified.

Closing her eyes, Orion tried to focus on calming her runaway heartbeat. Put a sword in her hand and she would bring down whoever or whatever stood in her way, but this game the orlesians made of dueling with words and reputations left her quaking like a coward. Hiding in alcoves to avoid a conversation in which she might unknowingly jeopardize everything.

She couldn’t stay in hiding forever though, they had an assassin to foil and favor to win. Josephine had been very clear that people would be watching her every move tonight, and that any absence would be noted. Orion  _ was _ grateful for her advisors instructions, but she couldn’t help but wish they hadn’t made her quite so aware of the scrutiny she was under. 

One more deep breath to steel herself, and Orion stepped back out into the crowded room, schooling her face into a stony expression as she scanned the room for a friendly face she could run to. Almost immediately, she locked glances with The Iron Bull, who seemed to have known where she would reappear. 

_ Of course he knew where I was, he wasn’t Ben Hassrath for nothing. _

A seed of calm took root in Orion’s belly at Bull’s steadying gaze, and she couldn’t help but match the lazy half-smile that crept over his face as he tipped his head back, the silent command causing her feet to start moving before her thoughts could catch up.

_ Come to me. _

Not that she would have ignored him, she was overwhelmed by this place and swam through the crowd towards him like a shipwrecked sailor to a calm shore. She had almost reached him when he turned from her and ducked out a nearby door leading to the gardens.  _ So that’s how he wants to play it. _

This was a game they had played before, and the familiarity of it served to settle her nerves, the roots from that seed of calm slowly spreading up into her chest as she forced herself into a more leisurely pace and she followed.

Orion hadn’t made it far past the gates when three identical figures swept in front of her in a wave of silk brocade and lace, cutting off her path as they called for their attention. Clinging tight to her calm, Orion managed to catch a glimpse of Bull’s broad backside disappearing beyond a trellis of climbing flowers. Forcefully  _ not _ clenching her jaw, she turned her attention to the courtiers, knowing she couldn’t afford to show any lapse of manners here.

They claimed to be Celene’s Ladies in Waiting, and Orion forgot their names almost as soon as she’d heard them. It seemed they shared the habit of every other noble she’d had the  _ pleasure _ of speaking with tonight, of talking in circles around their meaning and never saying anything outright. Still, Orion  _ tried  _ to match them at their game, though she rather felt she was wielding a practice blade against sharpened steel. At the end of the conversation, all she had managed to gather was that there was something the Empress wasn’t telling them, or perhaps there was something these ladies weren’t telling her about Celene. She made a note to tell Leliana what they had said, but  _ later _ .

Right now her Bull was waiting for her.

After extricating herself from the ladies in waiting, Orion made for the darkest corner of the lantern lit gardens, where she’d seen Bull disappear. Ducking through a gap in the trellis, she found herself in a tunnel-like arbor that ended in a stone wall and a door to her left and curved out of sight to her right. Delicate blue flowers clung to the vines and Orion was grateful for the break that their fresh, sweet scent provided from the cloying mix of perfumes of the ballroom. Occasional passageways opened up on her left, leading deeper into what she assumed was a maze, the trellised arbor quickly giving way to hedges, but she kept to the right, faint traces of lantern light seeping through from the garden to light her path.

The quiet scuff of leather against stone behind her brought Orion instantly into high alert, and she reached for the dagger tucked under the sash at her waist even as she continued to walk forward at the same unhurried pace. It was probably Bull behind her, but this whole place set her on edge, she wouldn’t have let her guard down even if where _ wasn’t _ an assassin in their midst.

Two more steps, a muffled rustle of fabric, and the faintest change in the still air, and she was reacting. Letting the arms of her assailant wrap around her waist, one hand settling over her mouth as she raised one hand to protect her throat and twisted just enough to lay her blade against his ribs.

“Shh, I got you, Boss” Bull’s familiar voice whispered against her ear, and she let herself relax in his arms as he took her earlobe between his teeth. “I’ve been watching you all night, a lady like you oughtta be more careful than to let strange men sneak up behind her in dark alleys.” His voice had changed to a low growl as he pulled Orion tighter against him.

With his hand still clamped over her mouth, Orion responded as best she could by digging in her blade. Not trying to harm him, but enough to make damn sure he was aware of it’s presence, positioned perfectly to slip between his ribs.

His laugh rumbled through her in return, and she let him twist the knife from her fingers. “You know I love it when you pull knives on me, Boss, but I don’t think that’s on the menu for tonight.” He said, letting the blade clatter to the stone walkway.

Growing annoyed that Bull still held his hand over her mouth, Orion sunk her teeth into the fleshy part of his palm, smiling smugly to herself when he pulled his hand away with a hiss.

“You,” he said, gripping her hips with both hands and drawing her ass close so she could feel his growing erection pressing against her, “are a dangerous woman.”

Before she could respond, Bull had spun her around and pressed her front against the trellis, caging her in with his body, bending down to whisper in her ear as he let his hands begin to wander. Orion could just glimpse the figures of the courtiers strolling the gardens beyond the gap in the vines.

“I really have been watching you all night you know.” His voice was dark and dangerous now as one hand drifted up to cup her breast, the other slowly working its way downward over the soft rounded flesh of her belly. “Longer than that, in fact.” Bull punctuated his sentence with a sharp bite under her jaw, his horns clacking against hers as he manipulated her like so much clay in his hands, and Orion found herself regretting the high necked uniform. So much more of her neck and shoulders would be open to him now if she hadn’t turned down the gown Josephine had offered her.

She fought to keep her breathing under control as her body came awake under his touch, a burning heat settling between her legs as she spoke, “And what have you seen, Bull?”

“I’ve seen a warrior risk her life time and again, face down impossible odds, and always come out on top.” Bull rumbled into her ear, hands now busy with the fastening of her leggings. “I’ve seen a general, commanding her troops with confidence on the battlefield, storming age-old fortresses and bringing them crumbling down at her feet.”

Orion was trembling in his hands, and she wasn’t sure whether it was at his words, or the way his hand was now pressing between her thighs to find her slick, aching center. His touch kindled the fire in her blood to new heights that made her feel that he might burn her up, But it didn’t seem Bull was through with her yet.

“I’ve seen a leader make the choices no one else wanted to make. Watched her care for her people and suffer for those choices without complaint.” 

“Bull..” Orion licked her lips, willing her tongue to obey her as Bull dipped a finger into her, spreading her slick up to her clit before beginning to work her in a strong, steady rhythm.

“No, Don’t speak, Kadan.”

_ Kadan. _

The word echoes in Orion’s mind, stilling the rest of her racing thoughts with it’s certainty. 

_ He called me Kadan. _

A flush that has almost nothing to do with the hand stroking over her clit rose up Orion’s neck, and for a moment she feared she might drown in a flood of emotions she can’t process at the moment. Not with his hand moving like  _ that. _ Biting her lip to keep herself silent, Orion pressed her forehead against the trellis and closed her eyes, trusting that wherever Bull was taking her was somewhere she needed to go.

“I’ve seen a woman who is cruel, but never undeservedly so. I’ve seen a woman who is soft and sweet as honeyed cream.” Bull punctuated his words with gentle kisses and bites to the sides and back of her neck, pulling quiet shudders from her with every breath.

“I’ve watched her come apart in my hands even as I felt the steel beneath her skin stronger than anything I’ve ever known.” Free hand tightening on Orion’s hip, Bull ground himself against her ass, letting her feel the strength of his desire for her.

“I know she let me catch her tonight, because she lets no one take anything that she doesn’t choose to give.” 

Try as she may, Orion couldn’t hold back the moan that pushed out of her chest as Bull slid a thick, calloused finger into her. She clung to the trellis so hard she felt vines crushing under her hands, sticky sap smearing over her fingers as every move of his hand against and within her threatened to unmake her completely. 

“That’s it,” Bull whispered in her ear, his breath coming almost as ragged as her own. “That’s my good girl. I want you to come for me, here within earshot of the entire Orlesian court.” He increased his pace, palm rocking against he clit as his finger massaged that spot inside of her that made her legs go weak.

“And when we’re done here, before you sleep tonight, I’m going to fuck you like you deserve, somewhere I can actually make you scream.” The promise in Bull’s voice sent a chill shooting down Orion’s spine and she couldn’t help the whine that escaped her lips as he continued to push her steadily ever closer to the edge of release. 

Bull responded to her whine with a growl, the hand that had been clutching her hip quickly moving to cover her mouth. The moment her hip was freed Orion bucked as much as she could into Bull’s hand, desperate to take as much from him as he was willing to give, and he did not deny her.

Bull pressed a second finger into her cunt alongside the first and redoubled his efforts. The stretch of his fingers, coupled with the rhythmic pressure of his palm against her clit had her hips jolting against him, hands reaching back to scramble for purchase on his horns as Orion shattered in his arms. She might have screamed if not for Bull’s hand keeping her mouth clamped shut, letting only a strangled moan escape as he rocked her through her climax. 

Orion slumped against him in the aftermath, muscles going lax and heavy, the continuing low rumble of his voice singing praises in her ear chasing aftershocks of pleasure down her spine. Realizing she still had an iron grip on one of his horns, she used it to pull his face down and craned her neck to meet him for a kiss. The angle was too awkward for it to be a long kiss, but Orion poured as much affection and gratitude into it as she could, and Bull’s deep rumble of satisfaction was well worth the twinge of discomfort in her neck. She could still feel the insistent press of his cock against her ass, but from the way Bull began setting her clothes to rights she knew he had no intention of letting her help him with it. One more reason to hate this party.

“You should get back out there before Josephine comes looking for you.” Bull said at length, pressing a kiss to the top of Orion’s head as he eased her out of his arms. “And just so you know, I wasn’t exaggerating one bit before. This court isn’t gonna know what hit 'em.” 

Not sure she could trust her voice, Orion simply nodded and took a moment to collect her dagger from where it had fallen and tucked it back into its place in her sash before turning to face him, a somewhat watery smile playing on her lips.

“Thank you-” The word  _ ‘kadan’  _ hovered on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it off at the last second with a flush. Just because he had let it slip to her didn’t mean.. She needed to be sure, and there were much better places to have that discussion.

Pressing a chaste kiss to his lips instead, Orion turned to make her way back out into the gardens, “I fully expect you to keep that promise about making me scream later.” She said over her shoulder as she walked, and delighted in the unabashed laughter that came as his response.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Boss.”


End file.
